Who said that the big teams always suffer from the "FIFA virus"
after the international breaks? That certainly wasn't the case this weekend,
with a massive 42 goals in all, the highest weekly tally in five years, and
that included a 16-0 aggregate score-line for the three leaders!

Barcelona started things off on Saturday with a 4-0 victory over
Granada, Iniesta and Fàbregas both converting penalties before Alexis
and Pedro added two more after the break. Real Madrid managed five at
Almería, Ronaldo opening the scoring (equalling Hugo Sánchez's
164 league goals with the club) before going off with an injury, and Benzema,
Bale, Isco and Morata getting the other four. And Atlético topped that
with seven against neighbours Getafe, Raúl García and David Villa
helping themselves to two each and Diego Costa coming on to score with a
spectacular over-head kick.

That wasn't all though, Carlos Vela getting all four (known as a
"poker" in Spain) in Real Sociedad's 4-3 win over Celta, and Sergio
García netting a hat-trick (including two penalties) as Espanyol beat
Rayo 1-4. Sevilla's Bacca got the opener in a 4-0 victory over city neighbours
Betis in the last match on Sunday, and earlier in the day Uche scored a brace
as Villarreal won 0-3 at Levante. Quite a weekend! (26.11.13)